Sep 23, 2021 3 min read

When the football team from Washington & Jefferson College makes the trip to Cleveland for the second time this season, they might want to take the same bus route, stop at the same restaurant to eat and watch the same DVDs on the trip up.

Because if the Presidents (2-0, 3-0) can play as well as they did against John Carroll in a 21-14 win a few weeks ago, good things can be expected from today’s game at Case Western Reserve (1-1, 2-1).

Kickoff for this Presidents’ Athletic Conference game is 7 p.m.

W&J is coming off a rowdy 28-3 victory hosting Bethany while Case Western Reserve disintegrated under the burden of five turnovers to Westminster in a 34-12 loss to the Titans.

Case Western Reserve quarterback Drew Saxton, a graduate of South Fayette High School, completed 30 of 58 passes for 317 yards and a touchdown. But he was picked off five times by the Titans, including Brice Butler’s 100-yard return for a touchdown.

“The game was an even game,” said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni. “If you look at the stats, Case turned it over a ton and Westminster blocked two punts. The game probably could have been a lot more lopsided. If you turn the ball over five times and have two punts blocked, what team is going to win?”

Sirianni said to give Westminster credit for forcing those turnovers.

“Case’s first punt had a bad snap,” said Sirianni. “We can’t count on that happening. They are a good program, and they are going to fix those things.”

Junior quarterback Justin Heacock has thrown one interception in his 62 attempts but the running trio of starter Joey Koroly and Justin Huss and E.J. Thompson combined for 439 rushing yards.

The defense leads the conference in scoring (9.7) and total yardage (230.7 average).

“We can’t let them hit those touchdowns of more than 30 yards,” Sirianni said. “We can’t give up big plays and like every big game, we have to take care of the football.”

California at Edinboro

California’s defense has pitched back-to-back shutouts. Could a third be on the way?

Edinboro welcomes the Vulcans, who have shut down Millersville, 30-0, and Lock Haven 59-0 the past two weeks.

The Vulcans (3-0) have had consecutive shutouts for the first time since 2012.

Cal ranks second in NCAA Division II this season in scoring defense at 4.7 points per game. Throughout all NCAA classifications, the Vulcans rank behind only North Dakota State of FCS in scoring defense among teams that have played multiple games this fall.

Quarterback Noah Mitchell has been red-hot. He has completed 27 of 29 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns last week.

Mitchell is second in the PSAC and ninth in the country with 937 passing yards this season.

Kickoff for this PSAC game is noon at Edinboro (0-2).

Waynesburg at Carnegie Mellon

Waynesburg won its first game of the season last week, defeating Thiel behind the running of tailback Justin Flack.

Now comes Carnegie Mellon and Flack will get a shot at the Tartans defense. Flack is second in the PAC in rushing, just one yard behind Tre Vasilia of Carnegie Mellon with 355 yards.

Tyler Raines leads the conference in passing efficiency. He has not thrown an interception in 66 attempts and has 696 yards.

Both teams are 1-1 in the conference and 1-2 overall.

Kickoff in Pittsburgh is at 7 p.m.